al-Shabaab... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban. The organization's current leader is Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad, also known as Ibrahim
al-Afghani. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Kenyan al-Qaeda member, is considered the group's military leader...
fighters have resulted in the deaths of 29 people in Mogadishu.
At least 18 Somali soldiers died on Monday after bitter festivities broke out between al-Shaboobs and the transitional government troops in Mogadishu's northern district of Afarta Darjino, a Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu reported.
More than 11 civilians were also killed and 30 others injured when Somali soldiers and al-Shaboobs exchanged heavy gunfire, and barrages of mortar shells were fired.
Somali ambulance workers ferried those maimed to Medina hospital.
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Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The Somali government has struggled for years to restore security but efforts have not yet yielded results in the nation.
Nearly a million people have died following years of fighting between rival warlords and also due to the country's inability to deal with famine and disease.
There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Somalia. More than 300,000 IDPs have been sheltered in Mogadishu alone.
Most of the displaced live in squalid conditions at makeshift sites in southern and central Somalia, according to the United Nations
... aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
High Commissioner for Refugees.